The Alexandria National Museum can be found tucked away in an unassuming yet busy side street paralleling the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea and elongating the Abou Quer axis. Tourists who have not taken a look at a city map or were not able to find a knowledgeable taxi driver might simply miss it. But to those who take an interest in learning about Egyptian history in all its temporal depth, the white villa behind the imposing iron gates that used to house the US consulate is an insider’s tip.
After passing the inevitable security gate and paying the ticket, a white staircase leads visitors up to the first floor of the completely renovated National Museum. Big boards to the sides of the hallway inform the visitors of the various sites and epochs of Egyptian history before giving way into the exhibit. To take photos inside the museum, a separate permit is required and can be obtained from the cash desk against a small fee.
The exhibition space is divided into three levels that correspond to major phases of Egyptian history and are layered like an archaeologist would excavate them: the oldest artefacts being buried deep beneath the layers of the more recent past. So in the basement one finds extraordinary pharaonic artifacts recovered from all over Egypt. The first floor is dedicated to Alexandria and the Greco-Roman period, while the showcases on the second floor provide an overview of the Egyptian Christian and Muslim history up until the 20th century. This layout makes orientation inside the museum easy and allows visitors to focus on what they find most interesting about the more than 5000 years of history exhibited.
When we visited we did not take a tour, but the museum seems to intend the visitors to start in the basement. The objects here are highlighted by ambient lights against a dark backdrop. The artefacts are all equally impressive and awe-inspiring. One should not miss the Old Kingdom wooden statue from Saqqara which welcomes visitors downstairs walking briskly and self assured in its glass box (pic02). A similar eyecatcher is the Old Kingdom limestone group statue of Mersuankh (pictured at top of article), whose vivid colors make it seem like the small men will exit their showcase at any point. Another gem is buried underground where the museum curators allow us a glimpse into the afterlife and the vibrant coffins that bore the dead.
Returning upstairs and finishing the basement round we find ourselves eye to eye with one of the greatest queens, Queen Hatshepsut herself who ruled in her nephews stead over a prospering land.
The first floor invites the visitor to marvel at the Greco-Roman past of Alexandria proper. While a settlement by the name of Rakotis (which itself is a Grecified version of the ancient Egyptian name “The Beginning of Works”) was founded a little earlier than the Greco-Roman rule, the city Alexandria rose to fame as the capital of the Ptolemaic rulers and a center for education and knowledge. Its port facilitated access to Meditarranean trade routes and, consequently, international networks. Already during this period, Egypt was a favorite destination for educational travel and lauded as a place to study philosophy and the sciences. You might have heard of the Library of Alexandria... Alexandria’s material culture profited from the cultural exchange with the Mediterranean, too. On the first floor, we can find anything from stunning mosaics to small terracotta deities. The art here mostly embodies the Greco-Egyptian culture of this period and its most prominent divine representatives Isis and Sarapis. A distinctive feature of the Egyptian depictions of this period both in relief and plastic is similarly easy to spot as this pair of deities: women are often depicted very chest-heavy (pic07). Do not miss the colorful mosaics, for instance this one of Medusa, because the showcases captured your attention. One of the rooms, appropriately clothed in blue, is dedicated to all the finds that were recovered from the sea. It shows, the Mediterranean Sea was not only an asset but a danger to the people living in the area, and many things were either dumped or inadvertently swallowed up by the waters. All in all, this floor does a great job at highlighting the cultural importance and is worth more than a cursory glance.
Upstairs on the first floor, the exhibit continues with the remaining millennia of Egyptian history. Starting with Late Antiquity and its mixing of Egyptian, Greek, and Christian iconography on tomb stelae, we can also find some Coptic textiles of the more recent centuries, while we continue into the times after the Arab conquest (641 BCE). Here the focus lies on military history with weaponry and explanations of the defensive architecture of Muslim Alexandria. The last stop on our way to the present is the room in which some of the objects of King Farouk’s collection are on display. Farouk reigned from 1936 until the Egyptian Revolution in 1952, which forced him to abdicate and leave the country. He died three years later in Italy. Most of his lavishly decorated Alexandrian palace was auctioned off, therefore, it is the more important that we can see part of his collection on display in the National Museum. Small objects, such as a golden medal issued on the occasion of the opening of the University of Alexandria in 1943 help the visitor piece together the most recent past.
With the end of the Egyptian monarchy our visit to the galleries of the National Museum also came to an end, but we will return at the latest when the Greco Roman Museum a few streets over will reopen its doors after several years of renovations.
* * *
Elisabeth Koch is a Ph.D. student in Iranian Studies and Egyptology at University of California, Los Angeles. She is particularly interested in ancient religions and their interactions. Wherever she travels, Elisabeth tries to explore heritage sites and museums. If not in a museum or library, you can find her on Twitter talking about a variety of topics, including past, present, and future @ElisabethKoch01.